Isnad in Scholarship
In the Islamic tradition, the Qur'an is the center of everything, for it is believed to be the very word of God, the uncreated word of God, in human speech. Muhammad was not its author, but rather its transmitter, the channel through which it came to men. Every single word in it was directly told him by God, and he wrote it all down precisely; this is in contrast to the Catholic view of Scripture, which was written both by God and men, the divine Author and the human authors. Yet Islam does not treat Muhammad simply as a channel: he was also a prophet, and the final prophet, "the capstone of the prophets," whose example and practice ( sunnah ) should be followed. This sunnah is not contained in the uncreated Qur'an, though; instead, it is passed down by tradition, by word of mouth, by the sayings of and about Muhammad, the hadith . What is unique about the Islamic use of hadith is the chains of succession each has, the isnad. ...